Checking Out a Final Cut Pro Project

Checking out a Final Cut Pro project creates a managed copy of the project at the location you specify. When you check out a Final Cut Pro project, the project asset’s primary representation is locked and cannot be modified by other users. Additionally, every media asset that is used in the project is locked with a Reference lock and cannot be modified by other users.

If the Edit Proxy feature has been turned on by your Final Cut Server administrator, you will have the option to check out the original media or the Edit Proxy that was created. Using Original Media provides the video asset’s primary representation; using Edit Proxy provides the video asset’s Edit Proxy file.

Important: The Edit Proxy feature must be turned on by your Final Cut Server administrator. If this feature has not been turned on, you will only be able to check out the original media.

You also have the option to create copies of the project’s linked media at checkout. Because all linked media is copied to your computer’s Final Cut Server cache at checkout, the only time you need to include linked media is when you are checking a project out to an external drive. See Working on Projects While Away from the Final Cut Server Network for more information.

To check out a Final Cut Pro project

In the Assets pane or within a production, do one of the following:

Select the Final Cut Pro project that you want to check out, and then click the Check Out button in the Toolbar.

Control-click the Final Cut Pro project that you want to check out, then choose Check Out from the shortcut menu.

The Check Out Final Cut Pro Project window appears.

In the Check Out Final Cut Pro Project window, choose a location to save the checked-out Final Cut Pro project to by clicking the Choose button and identifying a location in the file browser.

Note: To avoid losing track of checked-out projects, you can create a “Checked out Final Cut Server Projects” or similar folder on the desktop or in another convenient location.

If the Edit Proxy feature has not been turned on, original media will be used by default. If the Edit Proxy feature has been turned on, choose Original Media or Edit Proxy from the Use pop-up menu.

This defines the media type that will be used while you’re editing the project.

The Final Cut Pro project asset is marked with the checkout icon in Final Cut Server. A copy of the project is downloaded to the checkout location you specified. All media linked to the checked-out project is added to the Final Cut Server cache. When the project is opened in Final Cut Pro, this locally cached media is used to automatically reconnect to the checked-out project.

You can track the checkout progress by watching the Jobs in Progress indicator or, for more information, you can open the Downloads & Uploads window.